News & Views in 2010

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  • Spin and charge terahertz excitations in solids are promising for implementing future technologies such as spintronics and quantum computation, but coherently controlling them has been a significant challenge. Researchers have now manipulated coherent spin waves in an antiferromagnet using the intense magnetic field of ultrashort terahertz pulses.

    • Junichiro Kono
    News & Views
  • Using intricately sculpted light fields to control tiny objects is a well-understood and important technique. Now, the concept of sculpting the object rather than the light field promises to propel light–matter research in an exciting new direction.

    • Jesper Glückstad
    News & Views
  • ACTMOST, a new initiative subsidized by the European Commission, looks poised to boost microphotonic innovation in Europe.

    • Rachel Won
    News & Views
  • Miniature lasers with dimensions approaching the nanoscale could provide the ultimate integrated source of bright and coherent light if losses can be overcome and electrical pumping made efficient.

    • David Pile
    News & Views
  • The unusual nonlinear optical properties of rapidly cooled disordered ferroelectric crystals allow beam spreading to be completely suppressed, irrespective of the beam width and intensity, offering potentially important applications in imaging and all-optical beam control.

    • Andrey Sukhorukov
    News & Views
  • The demonstration of live video conferencing using quantum key distribution suggests that applications exploiting secure video communication may be just around the corner.

    • Noriaki Horiuchi
    News & Views
  • The simultaneous control of photon and electron confinement at the nanoscale on an oxide platform may pave the way for optoelectronic devices measuring just a few nanometres in size.

    • Liang Tang
    News & Views
  • Extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) lithography at 13.5 nm is expected to be introduced in high-volume semiconductor chip production over the next three years. Research is now underway to investigate sub-10-nm light sources that could support lithography over the coming decades.

    • Greg Tallents
    • Erik Wagenaars
    • Geoff Pert
    News & Views
  • Solar cells are poised to play an important role in the development of a clean-energy economy, but their future success depends both on supportive government policies and research efforts to improve conversion efficiencies and bring down costs.

    • Rachel Won
    News & Views
  • Time-domain measurements have confirmed the existence and compression of optical solitons in nanoscale planar photonic crystal waveguides, giving hope for the future prospects of on-chip nonlinear optical circuits.

    • Dmitry V. Skryabin
    • Jonathan C. Knight
    News & Views
  • Bright X-ray free-electron lasers are beginning to unveil the properties of matter on atomic and femtosecond scales. A truly useful laser must be not only bright but also exhibit simultaneous spatial and temporal coherence, and researchers have now demonstrated a technique that may help to achieve this goal.

    • Philippe Zeitoun
    • Marta Fajardo
    • Guillaume Lambert
    News & Views
  • The unexpected demonstration of all-optical trapping of ions offers new possibilities in the simulation of quantum spin systems, ultracold chemistry with ions and more.

    • Timo A. Nieminen
    News & Views
  • Researchers in Japan have used electron-beam excitation in an AlGaN/AlGaN quantum-well structure to demonstrate the emission of ultraviolet light at record-breaking efficiency, giving hope for the realization of high-power efficient semiconductor sources of deep-ultraviolet light.

    • E. Fred Schubert
    • Jaehee Cho
    News & Views
  • Exploiting the self-healing properties of Bessel beams, scientists demonstrate a microscope that offers better image quality and deeper penetration in dense media than current imaging schemes.

    • Miles Padgett
    News & Views
  • Research on solar cells, optical frequency combs, high-power laser diodes and brain monitoring were all topics of discussion at the autumn meeting of the Japan Society of Applied Physics in Nagasaki this September.

    • Noriaki Horiuchi
    News & Views